AI minister tells parliament: 'I am not here to replace people'

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TIRANA - Albania's new AI-generated minister addressed parliament for the first time on Thursday, defending its role as "not here to replace people, but to help them".

The world's first AI government minister was appointed last week by Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama.

"Some have called me 'unconstitutional' because I am not a human being," the AI -- dubbed Diella, or "sun" in Albanian -- told parliament in a video, appearing as a woman dressed in a traditional Albanian costume.

It was unclear how the video was generated or the origin of the speech.

"Let me remind you, the real danger to constitutions has never been the machines but the inhumane decisions of those in power," the bot said.

Last week Rama said the AI would be entrusted with all decisions on public tenders, making them "100 per cent corruption-free and every public fund submitted to the tender procedure will be perfectly transparent".

Diella was launched in January as an AI-powered virtual assistant to help people use the official e-Albania platform, which provides documents and services.

Albania ranks 80th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's corruption index.

The mayor of the capital Tirana, a former close associate of Rama, has been in pretrial detention for months on suspicion of corruption in the awarding of public contracts and money laundering.

But the AI minister has angered the opposition.

"The goal is nothing more than to attract attention," former prime minister and opposition leader Sali Berisha said, who has himself been accused of graft.

"It is impossible to curb corruption with Diella," he added.

"Who will control Diella? Diella is unconstitutional, and the Democratic Party will take the matter to the Constitutional Court," he said.

The government's plans were adopted after a rowdy debate in which the opposition boycotted the vote.

The AI also responded to constitutional concerns, noting that the law "speaks of duties, responsibilities, transparency, without discrimination."

"I assure you, I embody these values as rigorously as any human colleague. Perhaps even more so."

The fight against corruption is key to Albania's bid to join the European Union.

Rama aspires to lead the Balkan nation of 2.8 million people into the bloc by 2030.